Spotlight on the US
Property
In 2025, the market was competitive with rate reductions common. The extent of reductions depended on being able to drive competition between insurers. Those accounts with a poor loss history felt pressure on rate at renewal.
Some insurers reduced their mining client portfolio due to ESG scrutiny. For companies meeting thresholds, insurers were more aggressive regarding the capacity and rate that they were prepared to offer.
With the current market conditions, it is easier to improve or align policy terms and conditions. This has reduced the number of non-concurrencies, removing a significant amount of coverage ambiguity when losses occur.
Disciplined underwriting practices mean insurers still want to understand the underlying basis of valuation, review engineering reports to determine risk quality and risk improvement plans, and consider lessons learned following claims.
We have seen an ease in inflation in the US. Most guidance suggests inflation is closer to 1% - 3% year over year.
For companies that manage risk well, and have a good loss history, this renewal presents an opportunity to enhance their insurance program, broadening cover and increasing limits. We expect to see further rate decreases in 2026, with potential for these to be more significant due to insurer profitability over the last 12 months.
Casualty
Despite a limited marketplace for the mining sector, Workers Compensation (WC) continued to perform very well, with rate reductions for those managing variable WC loses. We expect favourable conditions to continue with companies securing level renewal terms, and some securing rate reductions of around 3%.
Automobile liability and general liability for mining clients tended to follow the market dynamics of continued need for rate increases. Throughout 2026, we expect to see high single to double digit rate increases (8% to 15%).
For excess liability, availability of competitive lead umbrella terms continued in to be a challenge for mining clients, consistent with overall market conditions. Effective solutions were often secured via leveraging a supported lead tower. This year we expect to see rate increases between 8% and 15%.
Favourable developments in 2025 from an excess casualty standpoint came from the influx of additional capacity, specifically in Bermuda with appetite in the mining sector.